Old friends (reprising an old title for a blog post)

Mariano Garchitorena calls our group Good People of Hiraya after the gallery on United Nations Ave., Ermita, where we used to converge and connect in the 1990s. Missing in this post-Christmas reunion was ceramicist Shoko Mafune, now based in Australia. Miss you like crazy, Shoko!

That Sunday we came from different parts of Mega Manila--Karen Ocampo Flores and her children Aya Justiniani and Adoy from Las Pinas City, Noel Soler Cuizon from Manila, myself from Antipolo and Garch from Makati.

We chose Rockwell Power Plant Mall as assembly point. From there we decided whether we'd walk towards Poblacion, Makati, in search of Thai food at a place called Crying (?) or Crouching (?) Tiger. Or not. Garch, a mountaineer, would have found the walk easy peasy lemon squeezy. But there were Noel, whose leg was all achey and who was using an umbrella to prop himself up, and myself, certified PWD with osteoarthritis of both knees and with a cane to keep my balance.

Posing at our table, me holding up the rear and a bottle of brown Sheaffer Skrip found at a Noteworthy sale. Clockwise: Garch, Adoy, Noel, Aya and Karen

The mall was Garch's territory since he lives and works nearby. He decided for us--let's go to The Grid. The fried chicken and mashed potatoes came highly recommended--I had that as I was in no mood anymore to decide on what I was gonna eat. Noel had chicken, too, but with French fries, not mashed potatoes. Adoy's Mexican fare looked tantalizing but too late to change my mind.

Studying the cholesterol content, Nuks?

Yes, you dipped the boneless chicken in gravy, the mashed potatoes in more gravy. Bliss!

Mid-meal who should stride in but scriptwriter-director-actor-"almost tocaya" Bibeth Orteza and friends? There was time for a brief "Hi" and "Hello" before she told me of her schedule of appearance in all the performances of the play "Silent Sky" where, according to the Repertory Philippines press release, she will play "the brilliant and exacting astronomer Annie Cannon." (The play runs from Feb. 1 to 10 at the Carlos Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati.)

I learned a new word--"smocket"--for smoking pockets which the mall had outside for the ones who couldn't break the habit (I won't disclose who among the good people still indulged in an after-meal stick).

Selfie by Garch as we rested our feet before walking to our dessert destination

Group-fie with me photobombing Garch and Karen

We followed the leader Garch to Wildflour for apres-dinner coffee and tea, plus slices of coconut pie, carrot cake and chocolate cake. I was so full from dinner (no leftovers is my new motto) that I could only partake a portion of the sweets. Not that I was watching my diabetes. When I'm with friends, I hang loose.

And hang loose we did until it was time to kiss and hug one another good night and to pray for a very good year that would bring us together again.

Interlude

Rolly and I know that the month leading to the extremely busy 'ber months will be the only chance we can breathe together as a family so may as well take a staycation. Best place to take one is always an old and grand hotel. To the family The Peninsula Manila is that. It has taken a supporting role in our story from falling in love to courtship to marriage (no, we didn't have our wedding reception there but at Nielsen Tower across the street) to our 25th anniversary as a married couple to first weekend of this still fairly new month.

The bathrobe's so fluffy I can die! While sleepless in Makati, I took selfies.

The staycation was more gift to Kai than to ourselves so her taste in hotel rooms would level up to five-star from business hotels where her Grumpa Tats is assigned when he's in Manila. Here we are enjoying the breakfast buffet at the hotel's Escolta.

I've always wanted a picture like this while Kai is still small and cooperative: enfold her in a robe and we're two heads on one body. Grumpa Tats joins us in the second pic.

Other family members came to visit on our last afternoon: my sister Suzy and grandnephew Jared (who swam with Kai) and family friend Noel Soler Cuizon, visual artist and fine arts prof. The Pen's long-serving public relations person Mariano "Garch" Garchitorena dropped by our table at The Lobby to order bubbly champagne to go with chips. He can't drink temporarily so when it was time for a toast, he raised the flower glass. That should suffice. And we did come home with happy memories. Here's to staycations, to life, family and universal love and healing!
Photos by Kai, Kimi and Rolly Fernandez and Babeth Lolarga

59 but not counting

These flowers wet with the previous night's rain greeted me when I stepped out of the house as an officially 59-year-old person.

"Maligayang bati sa iyong kaarawan, Babeth. Sana'y ulanin ka ng marami pang biyaya! Dalangin ko'y hindi ang iyong kalungkutan o kaligayahan kundi ang pagmamahal na maaaring umusbong sa dalawa. (Trying to be makata on your birthday, ha ha ha)." - Noel Soler Cuizon

By far Noel's message was the most touching message I received on June 24 along with that of G, my former student at a private school. Part of his email went:

"Good evening po, Teach. Happy Birthday again to you. Kamusta na kayo? How are you celebrating your 59th Birthday? I texted you this morning & also received your reply. I'm doing ok in college. I'm just a 1st timer pa lang. I have 7 subjects but no major yet. I've met new people already, but haven't made new friends yet. I'm only talking & hanging out with my friends like Luis, Milo, my Kuya, etc. There are some works I'm doing already. I have HWs too. Sometimes, I get to do them in my free time & sometimes I forget. Pasensya na. I'm only missing my years sa High School. I still do my best in college. All the things I've learned in (my former school) are naiipon pa rin with me. I learned a lot from you, T. Ruth, T. Maite & other teachers out there. I consider all of you as my 2nd family...Tnx. God bless."

Even if I cringe on reading the word "thanks" spelled as "Tnx," that's okay. I continue to emphasize in the new composition class I'm handling now that short cuts in spelling like "tnx" are acceptable in SMS but not in classroom work.

Except for Ida, our overseas daughter, everyone is accounted for in this picture. Thanks for picking up the tab, Kimi!

Another nice part of my day was being with my foodie family, sharing a meal at O'mai Khan restaurant in Baguio. Since I arrived ahead of the others, I used my prerogative, the way President Aquino did in proclaiming the new National Artists and dropping the name of actor Nora Aunor (something I strongly and vehemently disagree with), I ordered a la carte one rice meal with ulam that suited each family member's taste: Korean spare ribs for Rolly, tempura for Kimi, Mongolian fried chicken for Mackenzie for sharing with Kai and Korean beef strips for me with lots of honey-sweetened but still crunchy dilis and vegetable sidings for the birthday girl. And apple pie a la mode for all!

Oh, you beautiful pie, you great big beautiful piece of pie!

The Little One sidled up to me twice during lunch to say she wanted to blow my birthday candle. Of course, she did so to everyone's applause. Nota bene: she was too shy to blow her own birthday candles in April. I guess the number of guests then made her shy.

Kimi at first objected that she wanted the kalamansi tart, but when she tasted the apple pie, her big eyes bulged bigger and she said, "Masarap nga!" Later in the evening when I was on the road back to Manila, she texted that she was having a strong craving for apple pie (that can only mean that she's returning to O'mai Khan on her own one of these days to appease that hunger).

All in all my body and spirit are full! Belated tnx, God and all ye saints (friends and family alike)!

What's a birthday without a cupcake? Odette Mills of Cake Baby baked my order of a dozen goji berry cupcakes for sharing with Rolly's colleagues, who're my friends, at the Inquirer's Baguio bureau. Most photos by Babeth Lolarga

The only pork I can abide with

It's when I find the cubes of pork in an adobo especially prepared by artist Noel Soler Cuizon. He has grown up with this dish that is part of the kitchen repertoire of the Fajardo family, the same line of gastronomes that produced a Brenda Fajardo.

At a lunch he hosted over a month ago at the gallery of the Philippine Women's University School of Fine Arts and Design, Noel brought out a  long rectagular container. Was it Pyrex or Tupperware? My memory is hazy on this detail, but I clearly recall the glossy brown mass of  pork and some slices of chicken that may have looked un-photogenic but stirred something deep in the souls of those who partook of it.

A Fajardo on his maternal grandmother's side, Noel says the surviving family members have quarterly potlucks made more memorable by food themes. They've gone Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Filipino--all towards a future Fajardo cookbook project. Among the family's traditional dishes include what they call manok na pamasko (served at noche buena or the night before Christmas), basically nilagang manok with bone ham, chorizo and castañas, pochero, callos, kare-kare.

Call this recipe an advanced excerpt from family lore with Noel tweaking it here and there to improve it.

Adobo a la Fajardo

Ingredients:

1 kilo chicken
1 kilo pork
chicken liver (optional)
equal amounts of soy sauce and vinegar for the marinade
garlic
black peppercorns
laurel leaves
dash of Worcestershire sauce

Procedure:

1. Boil everything  until tender.
2. Remove everything from the sauce, then fry the contents in cooking oil to get them toasty.
3. Separately fry another batch of garlic equivalent to one whole clove.
4. Return everything in the sauce and let it simmer.
5. When the sauce is almost gelatinous, turn off the heat.
6. Pour olive oil atop the stew.
7. Let cool, then store overnight.
8. Reheat when ready to serve the next day.
9. When the leftovers are about two weeks old, toast everything with additional garlic, mix them, then pour olive oil with flair!

This is my addition: Eat with the ravenous appetite of one who was gypped and is now boiling mad over the misuse and abuse of pork barrel funds.

Jay Bautista, blogger and adobo prince Noel Cuizon

A gallery of one's own

If the once moribund fine arts program of the Philippine Women's University at the main campus on Taft Avenue, Manila, now enjoys a high profile, a lot of it has to do with its overhauled curriculum, marketing chops and the fairly new PWU School of Fine Arts and Design (SFAD) Gallery.

Noel Soler Cuizon

Noel Soler Cuizon, visual and performance artist, curator, and fine arts program coordinator, said Francisco "Kiko" Benitez, PWU president, wanted to revive the printmaking tradition of Manuel Rodriguez Sr. Rodriguez once taught at the school and had a print workshop there for him and his students.


Cuizon, himself a PWU graduate, has had several solo and group shows under his belt, had represented the country in art exhibitions abroad. He was once a grantee of the Asian Cultural Council at the San Francisco Headlands Center for the Arts in San Francisco. He also spent time in New York City where he did freelance networking with museum curators and galleries.


The space of the gallery from which one can enter at PWU's back door on Leon Guinto street was once the same workshop space that another university head, former Sen. Helena Benitez, gave to the Philippine Association of Printmakers (PAP) whose original batch included printmaking vanguards like Virgilio Aviado, Ofelia Gelvezon Tequi, Rodolfo Samonte, among others.


The younger Benitez wanted a Center for Visual Printmaking along with the gallery so it could exhibit workshop outputs. Printmaker Jesus Flores, who also teaches at PWU, is center director.


When Benitez presented Cuizon with an offer of gallery space, apart from his helping revitalize the curriculum, the latter's first thought balloon was: "I'll turn it into a playground." 

Since then, Benitez has not missed a show and has expressed his intention to buy works by students and faculty members. He also looks forward to the gallery collaborating more with the students.

"Hapi B-day Mang Maning" by Imelda Cajipe Endaya

"Ukit," an exhibition that paid tribute to 100-year-old Rodriguez, was put up and a portfolio of 30/30  prints was gathered featuring works by Ambie Abaño, Aviado, Benjie Torrado Cabrera, Cuizon, Fil dela Cruz, Imelda Cajipe Endaya, Brenda Fajardo, Vic Fario, Jess Flores, Raul Isidro, Lenore RS Lim, Angelo Magno, Sam Occena and Josephine Torralba. The exhibit and folio were made possible through the school's collaboration with the group Tutok FOE (Freedom of Expression).


All the participating artists donated their works. Inside the folio are 40 works by 14 artists, some of who are PWU faculty members, the others the old guard and members of the PAP. There are still some folios on sale at the gallery at a cost of P68,000 each.

Proceeds from these will go to the purchase of facilities and to sustaining the center so it can offer workshops and outreach to other communities apart from teaching students etching, intaglio, rubbercut, woodcut, collograph and other print forms.
 
He said high in the priority of the gallery is showcasing the works of the school's fine arts students, faculty and alumni. After three years, he foresees the gallery opening its doors to non-PWU artists, too, and becoming more inclusive.

Pencil marking by anonymous student artist from a show called Plan B

Currently on view until Jan. 3 is "Kamay-an: Works on Paper" with students and teachers alike exhibiting works in boxes with contents as low as P500 a piece. Cuizon said the presentation of the works is such that it "looks like a photo montage."

He said the strength of the SFAD curriculum  is its balance of art theory and practice. Students have to go through classical drawings and at the same time allowed to experiment towards their senior years. The curriculum is shaped in such a way that students learn visual problem solving and explorations. But it can all be very exhausting when assessment time approaches because PWU is on a grueling trimester schedule.

Furthermore, Cuizon  said, the new curriculum and syllabus fixed the foundation courses, e.g., techniques, materials and visual perception were consolidated and the thesis program  geared towards mainstream or industry practice.

Cuizon conducts his thesis and art theory classes at the gallery where the atmosphere is congenial with him serving lunch or snacks. When he joined PWU in 2010, he said there were only three painting majors. Today it has 32 painting majors.

He is proud to see that these majors are united and have formed an official painting organization called Pintab. Their recent activity was a show called "Plan B" because the original artist/s lined up for a show backed out.

More pencil markings on a gallery pedestal

What 50 students did on the gallery's walls were markings using pencil. Some may call it graffiti; some may feel that these drawings should've been preserved on longer-lasting, non-acidic pieces of drawing paper. But the stress on the ephemeral quality of these markings was the whole point. They were later erased and whitewashed with a new coat of white paint.--Text and photos by Elizabeth Lolarga

First published by Vera Files / Yahoo Philippines, Dec. 19, 2013

The ones who never left my side

They're two of my favorite creative collaborators: Lynett Villariba and Marissa Ileto. Plus factor is they're my pals, too. But I haven't had a chance to do a project with Lynett since she became the extremely busy artistic director of Philippine Daily Inquirer. Marissa is now an international English-as-second-language teacher but is still based in Manila. We are doing our high school batch's souvenir program. Maybe it's part of aging but the process has become slower despite computer technology. Occasion for this social was the book launch of Bobi Valenzuela's essay collection, Minsan, sa Tag-araw, at the old Hiraya Gallery.

One of the three guys seated with me, Caloy Abrera (second from left), left this world abruptly and with a loud clanging of bells and steel. The other one, poet Jolicco de Cuadra (to my right), is gravely ill with Parkinson's disease. His long-time partner, Auggusta de Almeidda, is trying to find a way to keep his medications in steady supply. Apparently still in good form, especially where singing is concerned, is baritone Alex Dacanay (holding his lunch bowl). This was taken in 2002 at Jerry Araos's garden in Antipolo on the occasion of the sculptor's birthday.

Them were the days indeed when we could drink one bottle of beer after another and not even count how many. And we always chose to sit in the smoking section! Oh my, are we all, Sam Sarmenta, Cynthia Alberto Diaz, Dario Noche, Louie-an Pilapil, the blogger, Joel Sarmenta, Amadis Ma. Guerrero, Francis whose last name I've temporarily forgotten, and Rustie Otico, now paying our dues, health-wise. Sam I'd occasionally see in our Kapitolyo neighborhood taking morning walks. At least there's one exercise-conscious member of the Friday Club.

Obviously, from the color they're wearing, this was Valentine's Day in 2011 when Jacqui Magno, my favorite Pinay jazz singer along with Gou de Jesus (Gou, magparamdam ka naman), had a gig at Merk's Place on Pasay Road. Anna Leah Sarabia is my long-time friend from her Filipinas Foundation years when she was a Makati office girl and still carried a de Leon surname. She has come a long, long way from that, and if she weren't too busy with feminist,  anti-tobacco and pro-RH advocacies, she has many memories to put down on paper. I'm wearing a sling because I broke my elbow in January that year. It healed miraculously through the intercession of poet-healer Mila Aguilar whose book of poems, Chronicle of a Life Foretold, was launched to much acclaim recently.

Anna Leah calls this picture "The Baguio Mafia," although I am hardly in the city up north these days, except for the recent semestral and Halloween break. Baboo Mondoñedo on my right is  a frequent collaborator as far as mounting watercolor shows goes. Her own collection of personal essays should be out by the new year. It is Laida's eldest daughter, Padma Perez, who's more my barkada. Laida though is an inspiration because not only is she Ms. Serenity herself, her slow-food and organic market advocacies in Baguio have taken deep roots apart from her support for weavers of handmade textiles. These beautiful textiles she wears with elegance.Her Cafe by the Ruins guava jam and tart are up there in my to-die-for list.

The is the Babeth-Gilda duet, taken by Anna Leah in 2010 at the old Kiss the Cook Gourmet location during a concert for a cause, featuring baritone Andrew Fernando (no relation to Gilda), flutist Christopher Oracion and pianist Mary Anne Espina, to benefit the Free Ericson Acosta Campaign. Ericson is good friend Pablo Tariman's son-in-law, a political prisoner in Calbayog City, Samar.

Taken at The Peninsula Manila when Australia-based Japanese ceramics artist Shoko Mafune visited last. Mariano Garchitorena, the dapper-looking tisoy, always hosts our reunion dinners and long lingering coffee chats afterwards. Always present on these occasions also is Noel Soler Cuizon, whose time is taken up teaching fine arts full-time at the Philippine Women's University.

Short Monday walk in Laguna

Friend Noel Soler Cuizon, who was achingly absent and missed at the celebration of our friend Precious Leaño's birthday, once told me he loves Laguna so because it's such a feminine country, unlike the macho spirit of a province like Cavite.

The inebriated celebrators ended our Sunday at the cottage Precious and Alex Baluyut are renting out on the University of the Philippine Los Baños campus, just a hop and skip away from their artist friend Junyee's home studio. We were glad to see Junyee join the rich lunch that Sunday after rumors about his weakened state were proven false.

Beyond the windows, that's where I spent the night.

That night, the air was muggy, and we all wished aloud for rain to cool the grounds outside. We got our wish and slept deeply until the rains stopped on Monday morning that meant school day for the children Rickee and Dylan.

Rickee had a good excuse to miss class because of a sudden skin allergy. Could he have stolen too many sips of the rum Coke or what someone preferred to call Cuba Libre? He admitted to that.

Rickee my roommate contemplating his life without television and Internet. Upside of country life: he's a hitter of the Los Baños Tigers, a baseball team

Dylan feigned a headache, but Mama Precious was on to him and quickly helped him get into his uniform and bring him to school which was two doors away.

I was left with a little time before I took the bus back to almost treeless EDSA. Time for an unhurried after-coffee stroll along the alley where this family now lives.

Quiet alley lush with greenery

From the outdoor breakfast nook, one can easily spot all types of birds flying around or resting on electric wires like this one.

Hi, bird!

Like I earlier wrote, I still have to memorize the names of these common Philippine flora so I can do accurate captions next time. Meanwhile, here are some good morning glories, still wet with raindrops.

Glorious pink ginger torch slowly opening

  
Photos by Babeth Lolarga

A refreshing art space in Laguna

From left:"Alamat ng Saging" and "Alamat ng Bayabas" 
by Brenda V. Fajardo; "Walang Llihim" by Imelda Cajipe-Endaya

Nineveh Artspace, the first and only art gallery in the capital town of Santa Cruz, Laguna, and the biggest in the province, comes as a breath of fresh air for the Manila-based visitor, especially on exhibition opening day. There is none of that cocktail-party artifice where one tries valiantly to view the works while maintaining a decent conversation and balancing a small plate of finger food on one hand.

Untitled sculptures from Paete Laguna; 
in the background, "Uniporme" by Jaypee Samson

At Nineveh, expect a mini barrio fiesta with similar performances from local choirs or dance troupes to keep the familiarity levels up. Food unique to Laguna is served like kalamay sa talulo, especially made in the town of Cavinti, mo-le (actually deep-fried balls of banana heart), akin to kare-kare  and ordered from Pila native Joe Lat, vegetable dishes and miki-bihon pancit.

These touches reflect the down-to-earth personality of Louie Sevilla, the moving force  behind the art space. Apart from teaching Philippine history, art appreciation and the Rizal course at St. Peter’s College Seminary in San Pablo City, he writes and directs plays, the most significant of which are variations of the senakulo (plays on the passion and death of Jesus Christ).

"Blind Item Series #4" by Brave Singh

He opened his home and made it part of the country’s gallery circuit “at a time when I was collecting artworks like mad and wanted to share this passion with others,” he says.

In bringing art to his residence, Sevilla says his friends tell him “it’s a joy to visit it every now and then because there’s something different each time.”

He was partly inspired by The Second Gallery in Angono, Rizal, owned by Totong Francisco who turned his garage into a display area, by a sampling of what gallery work is like when a set of paintings was loaned to him for a move-over show and by an opportunity to exhibit 13 Artist awardee Noel Soler Cuizon’s new works.

Clockwise: "Sa Akin ang Lahat" by Jeho Bitancor; "Sakada" by Nunelucio Alavarado 

and "Mnemosyne" by Noel Soler Cuizon

 Cuizon's show did it for Sevilla. By November 2003, Nineveh, a biblical name to mean both “root” and “dwelling,” opened its first solo and has since built up a track record of putting up at least seven simultaneous shows three to four times a year, or 21 shows yearly.

What sets Nineveh apart from other galleries in the country is the volume and variety of works, its big backroom and a nature space that is home to a number of plants and animals.

Sevilla says: “While we do have some artists who, by regularly exhibiting with us, have become identified with us, we don’t opt for exclusivity. We have encouraged many young artists to exhibit here, with some having their first solo here.”

The place has seven exhibition spaces with sizes suitable for a modest solo show to a bigger space for group shows.  Sevilla says: “If we were to accommodate two outdoor shows for outdoor sculptures, for instance, and allot one gallery space for two exhibits, there would be room for 10 simultaneous shows!”

"Banal na Aso" by Julius Samson

"Tanghalian" by Bernard  A. Vista

He chooses exhibiting artists whose works he appreciates and feels should be recognized by a wider audience. He examines works for the excellence in craftsmanship and the idea or philosophy being put across by the artist.

Sevilla quotes a departed friend, Bobi Valenzuela, who once said: “If a work moves you, then it’s good.”

This year, he upped the ante by also setting aside a room for the works of 13 Artists awardees, explaining, “While Nineveh would like to encourage young unknown artists, we need to show the works of recognized artists because these are what draw art aficionados to patronize the gallery. Moreover, exhibitions featuring the works of 13 Artists serve as models of excellence for beginning artists and the viewing public. Any one show has a mix of renowned and unknown artists. We invite students from elementary to collegiate levels to visit our exhibits to upgrade their knowledge of and taste in Filipino art.”

 From left: "Tured" and "Manag Ba-bain" by Brave Singh

Sevilla suggests these other spots to put in one’s Laguna cultural itinerary good for a weekend: Pila, a heritage town that is a perfect example of the Spanish colonial setup and renowned for its preserved turn-of-the-century houses; Lumban for its barong; Paete for sculptures and paper mache; Pakil for its church and the Danilo Dalena museum; the liturgical museum in Liliw; and the Underground Cemetery in Nagcarlan.

With this entire month dubbed as “La Laguna,” an arts and culture festival, it’s a good time to head south. Nineveh Artspace is at 2452 1st Avenue Villa Silangan Subdivision, Santa Cruz, Laguna.--Text and photos by Elizabeth Lolarga

First published in Vera Files/Yahoo Philippines, April 21, 2012. The current exhibits are on view until April 30.